Italy Plans School Face-Veil Ban and Foreign-Student Limits, Meloni Says

Rome, September 20, 2026: Italy is preparing new school rules that would ban face coverings and introduce a legal limit on the number of foreign students in individual classes, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday.

Speaking at a youth event organised by her Brothers of Italy party, Meloni said a measure would soon be presented to the Council of Ministers. She said the proposal would include a maximum number of foreign students per class and measures requiring parents of foreign students facing serious difficulties with integration to learn Italian.

Meloni said the proposed rules would prohibit burqas and niqabs in schools, arguing that students should attend school with their faces uncovered.

She said Italian schools should promote integration and that cultural or religious traditions should not prevent girls from attending school without their faces being visible.

ANSA’s report on Meloni’s speech used broader wording and reported that she referred to a ban on the burqa and hijab in schools. Because the reports differ on the exact garment terminology, it is safer in an English-language article to describe the proposal generally as a ban on face coverings, while attributing the specific terms to the respective reports.

Meloni did not specify a numerical limit for foreign students in each class in her Sunday remarks. She said the government would introduce a legal maximum.

The issue had already been discussed by Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara. On September 11, he said an existing 30% guideline for students with foreign citizenship had not been implemented and that the government wanted to establish the limit through legislation. He also said students should be distributed among nearby schools or classes rather than creating schools with concentrated migrant populations.

The distinction is important because the 30% figure is not yet the new law announced by Meloni on Sunday.

According to data from Fondazione ISMU based on Istat figures for the 2024/25 school year, 931,323 students with non-Italian citizenship were enrolled in Italian schools. They represented about 11.6% of the country’s total student population.

The proportion varies by school level, with the highest shares reported in primary and lower-secondary education.

Meloni said the planned measure would also address students who have serious difficulties integrating into the Italian education system.

Under the proposal she described, parents of foreign students facing significant integration problems would be required to learn Italian. The government has argued that language skills are an important part of helping students participate effectively in school.

The proposal comes as migration and integration remain politically sensitive issues in Italy, where Meloni’s government has made immigration and national identity prominent policy themes.

Italy has not yet implemented the proposed school rules. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the government will soon present a measure to the Cabinet that would establish a legal maximum for foreign students per class and ban burqas and niqabs in schools. The exact number of foreign students allowed in each class has not yet been specified.